Tax Court Litigation Services

The U. S. Tax Court hears 95% of all IRS tax disputes decided by a Court. Approximately 30,000 petitions are filed with the Tax Court each year. The most important advantage of U.S. Tax Court is you can get your case heard in Court with a litigation lawyer for IRS representation, without having to pay the disputed tax in advance.

HOW TO GET INTO TAX COURT

You first need a Notice of Deficiency to go to Tax Court to dispute an income tax matter.

You only have 90 days after the Notice of Deficiency is mailed to you to file your Petition with the Tax Court in Washington, D.C. There is also a special 150 day “out of the country” exception rule that may assist you when filing a Tax Court petition.

Note, if you file your Petition late, even by 1 day, the Tax Court will not be able to hear your case.

TAX COURT IS COMPLICATED

The Tax Court has more than 300 technical rules. If you overlook certain rules, your case could get dismissed.

Under the Tax Court rules, you generally have the burden of proving the IRS wrong.

The job of the Tax Court is to determine the correct amount of tax. Thus, it is possible for an unprepared taxpayer to wind up owing more tax than the IRS initially asked for.

Jury trials are not permitted in Tax Court.

NEVER REPRESENT YOURSELF IN TAX COURT

The first thing you need to understand is that the IRS tax attorney represents the Government- not you. The job of the IRS attorney is to win the case for Government – not to help you win your case. Tax Court judges can also be difficult to deal with. Some IRS attorneys will take advantage of you if they sense that you don’t understand the Court rules. IRS attorneys are specially trained in tax law and they deal with the Tax Court on a regular basis. On the other hand, you are not trained in tax law and this will probably be your first time in Court. So, if you represent yourself in Tax Court, the IRS attorney will have a clear advantage over you. Don’t make a big mistake by representing yourself in Tax Court.

WE HAVE THE RIGHT LITIGATION SERVICES FOR YOU

For the past 25 years, IRS tax specialist Richard Carpenter has been a part-time Tax Law Professor at the University of San Diego School of Law. He is the only attorney in San Diego who teaches the Tax Court Litigation class at a law school. Richard Carpenter has the trial experience to win your case in Court.

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CRIMINAL TAX

It’s important to understand how serious criminal tax issues can be. This includes tax evasion, false returns, criminal failure to file or pay or tax fraud.